


Winter Challenge

by Tiny_Dragongirl



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Cabin Pressure, Doctor Who, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV), Sherlock (TV), Star Trek
Genre: Books, Drabble Collection, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Hot Chocolate, Ice Skating, Love Confessions, M/M, Magic Revealed, Marriage Proposal, Mistletoe, Reincarnation, Sledding, Snowball Fight, Snowed In, Sweaters, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 00:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 4,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiny_Dragongirl/pseuds/Tiny_Dragongirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Multiple pairings from multiple fandoms. Check <a href="http://heckyeahtumblrchallenges.tumblr.com/post/35486362064/winter-drawing-writing-challenge"> here</a>.</p>
<p>day 01 - sweaters<br/>day 02 - snowball fights<br/>day 03 - hot chocolate/hot drinks<br/>day 04 - books<br/>day 05 - ice skating<br/>day 06 - parkas/big jackets<br/>day 07 - sledding<br/>day 08 - snow angels<br/>day 09 - fireplace/candles<br/>day 10 - snowed in<br/>day 11 - quilts<br/>day 12 - mistletoe (or plain smoochies)<br/>day 13 - snowmen<br/>day 14 - hot baths<br/>day 15 - winter hats and mittens<br/>day 16 - shaking from the cold<br/>day 17 - snow shoveling<br/>day 18 - hibernate/sleep<br/>day 19 - cookies/cake/gingerbread<br/>day 20 - scarves<br/>day 21 - soup<br/>day 22 - huddle for warmth<br/>day 23 - sick<br/>day 24 - socks/boots<br/>day 25 - trade gifts/donate<br/>day 26 - foggy breaths<br/>day 27 - ski<br/>day 28 - knitting<br/>day 29 - power outage<br/>day 30 - sing loudly and/or obnoxiously<br/>day 31 - family/friend pictures</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sweaters

**Author's Note:**

> Crazy fluff, inspired by [ this post](http://sarahtheheartslayer.tumblr.com/post/32994898447/so-i-had-the-best-idea-for-a-date-a-sweater). Mycroft is probably totally OOC but I like to imagine him being all relaxed and doing stupid things when he is with Harriet. If you don’t know Don’t Shoot Me Santa by The Killers, you really-really should listen to it.

Harriet took the tea bags out and added some milk. She was wearing only a sweater, a bit loose and long enough to cover her hands – she had turn up the sleeves so she could manoeuvre with the milk and the mugs.

‘A lump of sugar?’ she shouted from the kitchen. ‘Or is it against your diet?’

‘Christmas is coming, Harriet. Fuck my diet,’ grumbled Mycroft in the room.

‘That’s the spirit.’ She added two lumps of sugar to each cup of tea. ‘Now get up and take these mugs into the living-room while I try to find some leftover cookies. I’ve left your sweater on the chair in the hall. Why do I even have a chair in the hall when my hall is almost too small to open the door? Well… never mind, just thinking out loud. Put on your sweater, come on.’

‘I don’t want to. I will look ridiculous.’

‘Yeah, just what I am planning on. I let you take me to that stupidly posh and swank restaurant last week, today it’s my turn. Besides, I look ridiculous, too.’

‘You look… adequate.’

‘Yep, totally. Naked. In a sweater.’

‘But yours has snowflakes on it. While there is a reindeer on mine.’

They spent the entire afternoon in thrift and second-hand shops, purchasing ridiculous jumpers, laughing shamelessly and having a great time. Mycroft always had a great time with Harriet. The woman was annoying, loud, sometimes even vulgar, not particularly pretty and, all in all, a complete disaster with an ex-wife and ex-alcoholism. Also, she was extremely funny and actually kind-hearted, a rough diamond, as he liked to call her in his mind. Not out loud because she hated when he gave her pet-names; she said it just didn’t fit him.

After buying the sweaters, they went to the woman’s flat. They put the clothes into the washing-machine and while the jumpers were washed and dried, they made out. And now Harriet wanted him to actually wear that reindeered nightmare. Oh, this woman was even more annoying than his little brother.

‘Perfect men wear sweaters with a reindeer on it.’

‘We are not going to watch  _Bridget Jones’ Diary_  again.’

Harriet barked a little laugh. ‘Fine. I’ll let you pick the movie if…’ she wagged her finger at Mycroft, ‘…if you put on your nice little sweater.’

‘I hate you, Harriet.’

‘Me too, Mycroft, me too.’

The man appeared in the doorframe, wearing his own jumper. Unlike Harriet’s, his sweater wasn’t too long or loose. The woman grinned like a Cheshire-cat.

‘You  _really_  look ridiculous, darling.’

‘Just give me those mugs, please.’

She handed them to Mycroft. ‘I’ll join you on the couch in a minute. Think of something you want to watch and not totally boring.’ She placed a kiss on his nose. Oh, how hated this woman and her childish little kisses; he hated how annoyingly sweet she could be if she wanted. ‘But before the film I want to hear Brandon Flowers beg Santa Clause not to shoot him.’

‘That will be the seventh time today we listen to that song.’

‘Don’t be such a spoilsport. It’s Advent Sunday, after all.’


	2. Snowball fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Established relationship and Arthur knows about Merlin’s magic. Oh my boys.

It feels like they have been walking for  _decades_  in knee-deep snow all the way. Of course they had to go on a hunting trip in the very first snow of winter, catching nothing but a chill.

Merlin is so going to kill Arthur.

‘If I freeze to death…’ said Merlin with chattering teeth, ‘…there won’t be anyone to take my place. I’m irreplaceable, you know.’

‘I never thought I would say this but… you are right.’

‘Really?’ Merlin almost fell over in surprise.

‘Where could I find such an idiot like you?’ Arthur went on.

‘Prat.’

They continue to walk in silence for a while. Arthur leads the way, which is good because at least it’s not Merlin who has to clear the path in front of them, but bad because Arthur Pendragon, Prince Arrogant and Royal Prat doesn’t spare a single moment to glance back at Merlin to check if he’s still following him. Maybe as far as he is concerned, his manservant (and lover) could lie dead in the snow, wolves eating from his body.

Well, time to catch Arthur’s attention.

Merlin starts with the tree above Arthur. It is very easy to mutter a short spell and make the snow fall from the boughs. Right on top of Arthur’s head.

‘Oi!’ Arthur shakes his head, trying to sweep the snow out of his hair with his hands.

Merlin grins and moves onto step two. Which includes some bewitched snowballs that follows Arthur, bouncing off his nape. Merlin makes sure his favourite royal clotpole gets a dozen of snowballs.

Much to his surprise, Arthur turns short but instead of attacking back, he practically springs at Merlin, taking him off his legs so both of them end up in the snow.

‘Don’t try to deny it.’

‘What?’ Merlin asks and tries to look innocent. Arthur doesn’t seem to give a damn because he grabs Merlin’s shoulders and quickly kisses him before he could continue talking. The kiss is hard, their mouths are like ice-cubes – luckily, their lips will be warm again soon enough, he makes it sure.

Not breaking the kiss, Arthur turns over, dragging Merlin along so now the warlock is lying on top of him. Eventually they need some air, but Arthur holds Merlin close, watching as their breaths tangle in the cold. ‘Admit it, if I didn’t take care of you, you would certainly catch a cold and die.’

‘Idiots don’t catch a cold. And you told me that I was an idiot.’

‘Because you are an idiot, yes. Though, you are a lovely one.’ Arthur kisses him again, this time it’s just a short peck on the lips, then pokes him on the shoulder. ‘Come on, get up. You might have dressed me up all nice and warm, but I don’t want to spend the night here. Let’s go back to Camelot where you can make some tea for me.’

‘And who is going to make tea for me?’ Merlin grimaces, sweeping the snow off their clothes

‘Fine, you can make some for yourself, too,’ Arthur answers, grabbing some snow, shaping it into a sphere and throwing it at Merlin.

They spend the rest of the trip back to the castle throwing snowballs at each other, Arthur complaining about Merlin using magic, Merlin complaining about his toes getting frostbite.


	3. Hot chocolate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHICKPEAS! Take a seat, pour some hot chocolate and have your fluffy Christmas special Spirk today.;-)

They were sitting on the couch, cuddling, legs tangled, both of them holding a mug of spicy hot chocolate, enjoying the peace and quietness of the evening. Jim played with the sleeve of Spock’s shirt, his fingers lightly touching the Vulcan’s wrist. Spock’s skin was warm and flushed, a soft, pale shade of green.

‘I imagined that it would be more difficult to persuade you to drink it,’ Jim confessed.

‘I assume you also imagined that only one mug of hot chocolate would get me drunk.’

‘Er… yes. Did I miscalculate something?’

‘Not completely. Chocolate does have the same effect on Vulcans that alcohol has on Humans. I must add that whereas only one glass of alcohol rarely gets someone drunk, only one mug of hot chocolate will not get me drunk either.’ Spock stopped to take a sip of the hot beverage.

‘No?’ Jim felt truly disappointed. He started to calculate the possibility of coaxing Spock into drinking more than one mug of hot chocolate but the Vulcan went on with his explanation:

‘It will only get me, as the Terran expression goes,  _tipsy_.’

‘Really? Uh, okay. Tipsy is good. I like tipsy.’ He waited for Spock to drink some more before continuing: ‘Because I need you to sing  _Winter Wonderland_  with me. Big classic, you won’t be able to resist it.’

‘As I progress in consuming my portion of hot chocolate, the statistical likelihood of your statement is increasing as well.’

‘Come on, don’t spare me, Spock, give me the numbers.’

‘Strange to say but I find it difficult to calculate the exact numbers.’

Jim grinned smugly over the rim of his mug. This hot chocolate project just turned out to be one of his best ideas.


	4. Books

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All grown-up Hermione and Draco with some canon-divergence. Inspired by [this post](http://brennanat.tumblr.com/post/58246164279/you-know-how-people-buy-drinks-for-girls-in-bars).

Hermione opened the book, closed her eyes and enjoyed the smell of the pages. She loved new books, old books, big books, small books, torn books, magic books, textbooks, books from the library…

‘It’s very interesting,’ said a way too familiar voice behind her back.

Hermione’s eyes snapped open.

‘You are a witch, one of the cleverest, and yet you choose not to put a heat spell on your cloak, you’d rather go into a muggle bookshop to warm yourself up a bit. Most interesting, really.’

‘What are you doing here, Malfoy?’ Hermione turned around, holding the book in front of herself as a shield. Or as a weapon if it comes to that.

‘I heard you’d split up with Weasley.’

‘None of your business.’

They split up, yes. But they were still good friends; when Hermione learnt that Ron was dating Annie Boot, she felt truly happy for him.

Also, she knew by accident that Malfoy and his wife separated some time ago.

‘So, what are you doing here?’

‘Looking for a Christmas present for Potter’s son.’

‘Hahaha, very funny.’ Hermione put the book ( _Pippi Longstocking_ by Astrid Lindgren) back to the shelf and started to check out the others next to it, trying to give a signal to Malfoy that he could leave her alone now. When the man didn’t bother to go away, she sighed and mentioned quite casually: ‘By the way, James is three months old, he can’t even read yet.’

‘Not everyone can be like you,’ Draco grinned. ‘Anyway, then I am looking for a present for Potter.’

‘You are damned funny today.’

‘Maybe you can recommend something.’

‘I’ll try and pretend that I believe you… Why are you looking for a present in a muggle bookshop?’

‘If you were in Flourish & Blotts, I was looking there.’

‘Wait, are you saying that you followed me?’

‘No, I didn’t. But I’m rather pleased that I ended up where you are.’

Hermione turned to face the pale, blonde man. ‘If I left now, would you follow me?’

‘Dunno. Maybe. Most likely.’ Draco gestured towards the shelf behind the woman. ‘Can I buy you a book?’

‘Pardon?’

‘If we were in a bar, I’d invite you for a drink but since we’re in a bookshop…’

‘What are you playing at, Malfoy?’

‘Tell you the truth, I hope that you will let me buy you a book and I could buy a copy for myself, too, so in three or four days we could meet in a coffee shop and chat nicely about it.’

‘Hold on for a minute! Are you asking me out?’

‘No mistake, you are really one of the cleverest.’ Draco made a little bow. ‘Yes, I am asking you out, Hermione. On a date.’

The woman seemed to ponder the offer for a while. ‘Fine, Malfoy’ she decided finally. ‘Buy me this one,’ and she picked up  _I Capture the Castle_  by Dodie Smith.

‘How many books will get you into calling me by my first name?’

‘I don’t know. But if you read this one, I’ll go on a proper date with you.’

A smile appeared on Draco’s face, a true warm smile for such a cold winter. ‘Just give me three days.’


	5. Ice Skating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First kiss. (Yeah, I know, day 3 and hot chocolate happened but who cares about chronological order, really?) And-and-and Beautiful Day by U2 is my favourite song for ice-skating, so please, listen to it while reading. Or whatever, as you feel.

There was no ice on Vulcan, and when they visited Spock’s Terran grandparents, the Grayson family was too occupied with showering Amanda, Spock and even Sarek with love and all kind of emotions, including various Christmas-y things, that they forgot to teach Spock how to ice skate. Not that he missed it. Or, at least, not until his captain and best friend invited him for a round on ice when they got shore leave for Christmas on Win-Kolbe, the planet of eternal winter.

‘Sorry, Spock. I know that you’re exactly fond of this weather…’ Jim said with an apologetic smile.

‘Vulcans are not fond of anything.’ Vulcans do not lie, also. But he was only half-Vulcan.

‘Okay, okay,’ the captain held up his hands in surrender. ‘Still, I wanted to ask… though you are not a winter-person and I know that… but anyway, I wanted to ask if you… if you felt like coming to ice-skate with me?’

Spock pondered two things: he couldn’t ice skate – but he could spend some time with Jim.

‘It is most polite from you to ask…’

‘I didn’t want to be polite! I really want to go and have fun with you!’

‘…and I am most grateful. I will accompany you, however, I must inform you that I can’t ice skate.’

A wide grin of relief appeared on the blonde man’s face. ‘Sure, no problem. I’ll teach you.’

And he really tried to teach him.

It wasn’t his fault that the moment he took Spock’s hand to help him on the ice, the Vulcan got a bit  _disoriented_. Vulcans kiss with their hands and though they were wearing gloves, technically it was a kiss. Almost a kiss, a very little one, but a kiss.

And Jim didn’t let go of his hand which made Spock dizzy. The blonde man tried to carefully guide him, slowly manoeuvring which went very well first. They even made it around the edge of the pond once!

This was when Spock decided he had enough. His legs scissored under him, and he gave all his Vulcan strength into the fall, pulling the captain with himself, making sure Jim would land on top of him.

‘Whoa, Spock, easy,’ Jim laughed. ‘You ok?’

Spock didn’t bother with answering, just held the blonde man closer and kissed him on the mouth. Their lips were cold and the ice under them was hard and other people tried to ice skate around them… but the kiss was really sweet.

‘More than okay,’ mumbled Jim when they ended the kiss.

‘I would like to repeat it without the cold and the gloves.’

‘I would like to repeat it, too. So… first I will teach you how to stand up after you fell, because that’s important… actually, I should have started with this the lesson… then we’ll have some tea, maybe hot chocolate. And kissing. Lots of kissing.’

‘Most pleasant idea, Jim.’

On the whole, thought Spock, ice skating is quite an enjoyable pastime.


	6. Parkas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Molly Hooper/Martin Crieff ship might be my biggest cross-over otp.

‘No, you’re not going out in  _that_!’

Molly frowned. ‘Why? It’s a nice coat… or… I thought… it was nice.’

‘Oh, no, I mean…’ reddened Martin immediately. ‘I mean it’s really nice… it’s very… erm… very white… a-a-and very nice! Yes.’ He tried to compose himself. ‘But… but… but itisnotwarmenough.’

‘Pardon me?’

‘It is not warm enough,’ he mumbled.

‘I thought we were going for walk.’

‘Yes! For a walk. To the forest! So, it’s actually a trip. Like a proper trip… to the forest.’

‘And?’

‘You know, it’s going to be cold… and wet, because there is snow outside… which is kind of a miracle, so we should make the best of it…’

‘Snowman?’

‘Of course.’

‘Snowball fight?’

‘Yes!’

‘Snowangels?’

‘Definitely yes!’

A smile spread across her face. ‘So, what do you suggest?’

‘Well, I’ve got this for you.’ Martin opened the wardrobe and took out a…

‘That’s a parka.’

‘I know.’

‘And you want me to wear it…’

‘Yes! It’s warm. And cosy.’

‘…so I won’t catch a cold?’

Martin nodded, a bit uncertainly. At least Molly was still smiling. What is more, her smile grew brighter and more affectionate. ‘Then I’ll wear it.’


	7. Sledding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you find the story familiar, you might want to reread Anton Pavlovich Chekovh’s short stories.;-)

The sledding was Draco’s idea and Hermione is still not totally sure about it.

‘Relax and just try to enjoy it. I will navigate.’

His smile exudes so much confidence she must mock him a bit: ‘Without magic? That’s the courage…’ But the man just keeps on smiling in response.

She’s all right with sledding. More than all right. Winter sports? Big yes for most of them. But this time it’s a bit different. It’s not only having some winter fun – it’s totally having some winter fun with your ex-archenemy. More like having a date. It can easily end with broken ribs and/or broken hearts – but Hermione isn’t the bravest and cleverest witch for nothing, she is more than willing to take the risk.

Or something like that.

They slide down on the hill, the wind hissing in their ears, a bit chilly but otherwise perfect.

Draco leans a bit closer and whispers so quietly it’s barely audible: ‘I love you.’

Hermione is perplexed and curious. Did she really hear it? Those three words… or something else? Or was it just the wind and her imagination?

‘Again!’ she decides. The man cocks up an eyebrow. ‘Let’s go for another round! No one goes only one round when it comes to sledding.’

They climb back then slide down again. Draco repeats his previous actions and Hermione is as confused as before. She asks for another round.

‘I knew you would like it.’

‘All right, I admit it.’

‘Admit what?’

‘I love… sledding.’

Hermione smirks. Two can play.

They spend the whole afternoon with sledding; they go until night falls upon them and every part of their body feels frozen. Draco whispers into her ear and Hermione basks in the thought that it can be either the pale, blonde man or the wind…


	8. Snow Angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magic revelation… sort of. First kiss and love confessions.

’Finally.’

Finally – what? Oh, damn, well, yes… They were in the middle of making snow angels… well, in the snow. Outside Camelot. It was supposed to be a training… it did begin as a training… and it was probably Merlin’s fault that they ended up in the snow. Arthur seemed to be in a good humour and they started to wrestle on the ground, purely innocently, but somehow it turned into making snow angels. It felt actually… nice.

So nice that Merlin’s magic broke loose and he accidentally made some frozen fractals and crystallized small snow blasts in the air. Absolutely safe, except if you do it right in front of the crown prince. Whose biggest reaction upon the case is “ _finally_ ”.

‘Erm, Arthur… You see… I have magic.’

‘I know.’

Merlin imagined he would give Arthur the shock of his lifetime – but instead the warlock was taken aback by what he just heard. ‘What do you mean when you say that  _you know_?’

‘I mean,’ explained Arthur very slowly and patiently, ‘that I know about your magic.’

‘But… what… when… how… Arthur…’ Merlin babbled, making desperate attempts to pull himself together. ‘Since when?’

‘Since, I don’t know, maybe five minutes after we met?’

‘But… but…’

‘I told you there was something about you I couldn’t lay my finger upon!’ Arthur sounded almost… triumphant? What?

‘But if you knew about my magic…’

‘It wasn’t your magic, you idiot!’

‘Really?’

‘You are actually an idiot, aren’t you?’

Merlin scratched his head. ‘Dunno. Yes, I suppose.’

‘I am in love with you!’

‘You’ve been in love with me since we met and I am the idiot?!’ Merlin’s mouth dropped, slowly shaking his head in disbelief. Then his whole body started to shake with laughter. ‘You dollop-head!’ Now it was Arthur’s turn to be shocked. He was trying to find the words to form a question but Merlin quickly calmed himself before the blonde could make some wrong deductions. ‘You look really stupid now, you know that? Arthur, the omniscient… So, you know about my magic. And now you also know that you love me. But do you know that I love you, too?’

‘Of course I know, idiot,’ answered Arthur proudly, but still, he looked a bit relieved at the same time. He didn’t waste more precious seconds, just pulled Merlin closer and kissed him. Finally.


	9. Candles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Martin is a Crieff-Holmes and they are childhood best friends with Molly. Not a couple. Yet. And we all familiar with Martin’s “luck”. But maybe… Oh, fine, go and read it, and listen to the [Luckiest](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_latgzoqoSE) by Ben Folds.

Martin felt like he was the unluckiest man on the whole planet.

He was standing in the shop, a bottle of milk in his left hand, a quite enormous bag full of scented candles along with the receipt in his right hand and his mobile was ringing. Unluckiest man on the whole planet? More like in the whole universe.

Somehow he managed to manoeuvre to the nearest counter, put the huge bag and the milk down on it and fish his phone out of his pocket, just hitting the green button in time, without checking the caller.

‘Hallo?’

‘Martin?’

‘Molly?’

‘Is that you, Martin?’

‘Yes, it’s me. Was it someone else whom you wanted to call?’

Martin knew Molly ever since he could remember. They were childhood best friends, also Martin had a huge crush on her. It would be just his luck if she actually wanted to call someone else.

‘Huh? Oh, no, I wanted to speak with you, not someone else.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes.’ There was a small pause before she went on. ‘Are you busy right now?’

‘No. Actually, my only program for today to carry home a bag of scented candles.’ Suddenly he realised how stupid that sounded. ‘Not that I wanted them or anything! It was an accident, a complete accident. I don’t need scented candles, why would I need?’

‘Then how did you get them?’

‘I’ve run out of milk so I popped in the supermarket to buy some when I saw this lottery-wheel in the middle of the shop and it said you could win all kind of things with it. The main prize was a big cake, I had to try it!’

‘I guess you didn’t win the cake.’

‘No, I got these candles instead,’ he replied, a bit frustrated. He would have been happy with winning any kind of food, not just the cake – and yet he won candles, too much for his taste.

‘Not your day.’

‘Not my life,’ Martin groaned. ‘But what about you?’

‘My afternoon was just as bad.’

‘Why?’

‘Well, we planned this evening with Bessy to be a quiet one, you know, enjoying winter from the inside, drinking mulled wine, watching nice movies, lighting candles, rolling ourselves up in a blanket… this kind of stuff.’ On the other end of the phone, Molly sighed. ‘Guess what happened.’

‘Bessy forgot?’

‘No, not this time. Poor sis fell ill.’

‘That’s bad.’

‘Yes, it is. I’ve spent the whole afternoon with cleaning the flat and preparing everything… and now it’s just Toby and me.’

Both of them were a bit silent before Martin dared to risk the statement that: ‘You can always watch the movies alone.’

‘That’s not the same,’ answered Molly half sad, half annoyed. ‘Also, I wanted to take a long bath at least… but I can’t find my candles. They just disappeared.’

Martin knew her well enough not ask why it was vital to light candles when someone wanted to enjoy a hot bath in the middle of winter. Instead a sudden idea came up in his mind: ‘Well, I could offer you some candles. I’ve got way too much of them recently.’

Molly laughed a little. ‘Oh, yes, really, you’ve just won some. Lucky coincidence, isn’t it?’

‘And what is more…’ he continued carefully, ‘I could always come over and watch those movies with you.’

‘Seriously? I’ve got  _Love_   _Actually_ ,  _Nativity!_  and  _About Time_  prepared…’

‘Fine for me, I think. Just promise that you won’t hit me if I accidentally fall asleep, okay?’

‘I promise,’ he could hear the smile in her warm, soft voice. God, he loved her smile. Selfish or not, he was kind of glad that poor Bessy fell sick. No, he wasn’t glad for that. He was glad for the thing that Molly called him when she felt alone. This thought brought butterflies into his stomach.

‘Should I bring something? I’ve got… umm… milk.’

‘The candles will be enough.’

‘Okay. I’m on my way then.’

‘I’m waiting for you. Oh, and Martin?’

‘Yes?’

‘Thank you.’

‘You’re very welcome. You know that I love… erm… sharing my candles with you.’

_I’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong_

_That I know_

_That I am_

_I am_

_I am_

_The luckiest_


	10. Snowed in

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Future fic, reincarnation stuff and fluff.

‘Merlin.’

‘What?’ he mumbled, still half-asleep.

‘We’re snowed in.’

‘Great.’

Arthur was standing in front of the window, taking a peek at the street but now turned his head back to the bed to look at Merlin and sighed, seeing that his lover didn’t even try to open his eyes. Or stir. Or look a little less asleep. ‘Which means that we can’t go out.’

‘M’kay here.’

‘What are we going to do now?’

‘Wanna sleep.’

‘Fine. I see. Then I’m just going to make some coffee, since now I can use the coffee machine because you taught me, probably try to make some breakfast, too, without blowing up something, and we can spend the whole day busy to do nothing. Who cares about snow, anyway?!’ Arthur paused, waiting for some kind of reply but… ‘You’ve just fallen asleep again, haven’t you?’

He shrugged and headed for the door. On the threshold he stopped, hesitated, then walked back to the bed and touched Merlin’s shoulder. ‘Merlin,’ he whispered but the young man didn’t even stir. Arthur gently shook him. (And maybe poked him between the ribs, but, as I said, gently.) ‘Merlin!’

‘What now?’ This time his eyelids fluttered open.

‘Will you marry me?’

Merlin groaned, ‘Have you just woken me up again to ask  _this_? Seriously?’ and buried his face into his pillow.

Arthur frowned but didn’t give up. ‘Shut up and tell me if you will marry me.’

Merlin lifted his head a bit. ‘Of course I will.’

‘Good. Now kiss me and go back to sleep.’


	11. Quilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to the challenge. Merry Christmas everyone!

Marilla pulled the quilt tight around her shoulders. She was sitting in the rocking-chair beside the fireplace, all warm and comfortable, thinking about the upcoming visit of Anne and her family. She closed her eyes to rest them (as time went by she could feel her sight slowly but persistently falling), only listening to the cheerful popping of the flames.

The quilt was a Christmas present last year, made by Nan and Di. How quickly they are growing up! For example, little Jem will turn fifteen in July. He will probably attend Queen’s Academy next year, just as Anne and Gilbert did – now decades ago. It’s not an exaggeration to say that time flies when it does little else. They are living in a new century, for mercy’s sake.

Rachel Lynde said she had gotten mellow. All right, she had – it’s more than enough for the weather to be cool at Christmas. Marilla Cuthbert has been and always will be a respectable woman, but  she is not some kind of snow queen.

Marilla smiled and gently stroked the quilt. Only two days until Anne and her whole family will be sitting with her beside the fire, chatting and laughing. In her age every Christmas can be her last Christmas. But even if it was really her last Christmas, it is also going to be the best Christmas ever.


	12. Mistletoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thing is I ship these two like mad, and yet even in my own story it’s not an actual pairing, not an established relationship, it’s just me having feels about them. Merry Christmas!

Right. The Doctor clenches his teeth. Of course. No Christmas can pass without involving at least one near-death experience, he got it.

Just a few minutes ago they were attending a mid-space Christmas party on board of the impressive spaceship “Herald Angel”, specialized in festivities. Right now they are standing right under a mistletoe and a force field keeps them in place, while a passive-aggressive robotic voice urges them to “now administer the kiss, please”. Not mentioning that tall, gaunt and deliberately misprogrammed waitress droid just around the corner, following hard upon them, whistling “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and wanting to blow up every living soul on the ship.

Bloody hell.

He tries to sonic the mistletoe, but it doesn’t work. They’re stuck in a really awkward situation. If they don’t kiss soon enough, the waitress will reach them, but if they do… if Clara does… but if the Doctor… It’s not that he doesn’t want to kiss Clara. He would like to very much, it’s just that he has much greater respect for her.

He thinks. He calculates. He decides.

He gently takes Clara’s face between his hands and places a soft kiss on her forehead.

‘Merry Christmas, Clara,’ he whispers as the force field flickers, then disappears. ‘Run for your life.’


End file.
